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Eurovision Song Contest 1989
|winner = Riva - Rock Me |vote = Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favorite songs |nul = |broadcaster = SSR |semi1 = N/A |semi2 = N/A |withdraw = N/A |previous = 1988 |next = 1990 }} The Eurovision Song Contest 1989 was the 34th edition held on 6 May 1989 at the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne, Switzerland following Celine Dion's victory in Dublin the previous year. It was hosted by Lolita Morena and Jacques Deschenaux. An estimated 600 million viewers across Europe watched the contest, also airing in Canada and Japan for the first time. Cyprus returned after a year's absence, and all 21 nations from 1988 returned to compete for the 1989 Grand Prix. A change was introduced to the tiebreaker rules in this year's contest. Known as the "count-back" procedure, if two countries were tied for first place, the song with the most 12-point scores would win. If still tied, the 10-point scores would be taken into account and so on down to the 1-point scores. If still tied after that, both countries would be confirmed as joint winners. Yugoslavia was the winner with the song Rock Me by the group Riva, beating the United Kingdom by 7 points. They would be the last new nation to win the contest until 2001. Many countries did their best in 1989. Austria equaled their best result since their first win in 1966; Finland fell one place short of equaling their best entry before beating it in 2006. Despite the controversy surrounding the competitor's age, France did well finishing in 8th place. Greece placed inside the top ten for the first time since 1981, whilst Riva of Yugoslavia proved that the last spot was the luckiest to be, with the spot winning twice in the 1980s. Incidents France and Israel both picked young competitors to perform their songs. 12-year-olds Nathalie Pâque of France and Gili Netanel of Israel were considered "underage" by the other competitors, however, Israel's song Derech Hamelech was one of the favorites to win the contest, despite having the unlucky second place in the running order. Riva, despite being the winners of the contest, were quite unpopular across Europe, with "Rock Me" failing to sell in many countries, and wasn't even released in some. Terry Wogan, the commentator for the United Kingdom, called it "the death knell" for the Contest. They did not appear at the 1990 contest held in Zagreb, as per custom the winner usually presents the trophy to their successor. Gallery Anna Oxa Fausto Leali.jpg|Anna Oxa & Fausto Leali Gili Galit.jpg|Gili & Galit Kiev.jpg|Kiev Connolly & The Missing Passengers Justine PelmelayLive.jpg|Justine Pelmelay Pan.jpg|Pan Ingeborg.jpg|Ingeborg Live Report.jpg|Live Report Britt Synnøve Johansen.jpg|Britt Synnøve Johansen Da Vinci.jpg|Da Vinci Tommy Nilsson.jpg|Tommy Nilsson Park Café.jpg|Park Café Birthe Kjær.jpg|Birthe Kjær Thomas ForstnerLive.jpg|Thomas Forstner Anneli Saaristo.jpg|Anneli Saaristo Nathalie Pâque.jpeg|Nathalie Pâque Nina.jpg|Nina Fani Polymeri & Yiannis Savvidakis.jpg|Fani Polymeri & Yiannis Savvidakis Furbaz.jpg|Furbaz Mariana Efstratiou.jpg|Mariana Efstratiou Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson.jpg|Daníel Ágúst Haraldsson Nino de Angelo.jpg|Nino de Angelo RivaLive.jpg|Riva Participants Category:Switzerland Category:Yugoslavia Category:Eurovision Song Contest 1989 Category:20th Century Eurovision Category:Nul Points Category:Rules changes